Semi-weekly south Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1883-1889, 1887-06-03
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tN.HiStorz Of: Ael2ehfure
ry J. RIDER HAaeARp.

As / anticipated, We passed right through
the precipice, and were now on its further
side and Immediately beneath its beetling
face. The first thing l noticed was that ii
was not nearly SO high here, not so high, l
should say, by 500 feet, which proved that The
bed of tho lake, or rather Of the vast ancient
crater In which we stood, was much higher
than the surrounding plain. For the rest,
we found ourselves in huge rock surrounded
c,,r. not unlike thar Of the first place where
we had sojourned, only ten times the size. In
deed, one could only just make out the
frowning line of the opposite cliffs. A great
portion of the plain thus inclosed by nature
was cultivated and fenced in with walls of
stone placed there to keep the CATTLE and
goats of which there were large herds about,
from breaking into the gardens Here and
there rose great grass mounds, and some
miles away toward tho center thought that
/ could see the outline of colossal ruins. /
had no time to observe anything more at the
moment, for we were instantly surrounded
by crowds of Amahagger, similar in every
particular TO those with whom we were al
ready familiar, who, though they spoke little,
pressed round us 80 closely as to obscure the
view 10 person lying in a hammock. Then
oil OF a sudden o number OF armed men, ar.
ranged in companies, and marshaled by OIL
GERS who held an ivory wand in their hands,
came running swiftly toward us, having, so
far as l could make out, emerged from the
face Of the precipice like ants from their bur
rowe These men, as well as their officers,
were all robed in addition to tho usual leopard
skin, and, as / gathered, formed the body
guard Of She herself.
Their leader ADVANCED TO Billali, saluted
him by placing liis ivory wand trsnsversely
across his forehead, and then asked some
question which could not catch. and Billali
having answered him, tho whole regiment
turned and marched along the side of tho
cliff, our cavalcade Of filters following in
their track. After going thus for about half
a mile we halted once more in front of the
mouth Of a tremendous cave, measuring
about lfty feet in height by eighty wide, and
here Billali descended finally, and requested
Job and myself to do the same. Leo, of
course, was far too i'll 10 do anything Of the
sort / did 50, and we entered tho great cave,
into which the light Of the setting sun pene-
trated for some distance, while beyond the
reach OF tho light 1t was family Illuminated
with lamps, which seemed to me to stretch
away for an almost immeasurable distance,
like the gas lights of an empty London street
Another thing that noticed was that the
walls were covered with sculptures in has
relief, of a sort, pictorially speaking, similar
10 those that have described upon the vases,
love scenes principally, then hunting pict-
ures, and pictures of executions, and the tor
ture Of criminals by the placing Of hot, pre-
sumably red hot, pot upon the head, showing
whence our hosts had derived this pleasant
o., A,NNl
though many of dnels and men running and
wrestling, and from this fact am led to be-
leve that this people was not much subject to
attack by exterior foes, either on account of
the isolation Of their position or because Of
their great strength. Between tho pictures
were columns of stone characters of a
formation absolutely new to mel at
any rate they were neither Greek, nor
Egyptian, nor Hebrew, nor Assyrian-
that can swear to. They looked more like
Chinese than anything else. Near TO tho
entrance Of the cave both pictures and writ
ing were worn away, but further in they
were in many cases absolutely fresh and per-
feet rs the day on which the sculptor had
ceased work upon them. iaH
The regiment Of guards did not come ftu-
ther than the entrance 10 the cave, where they
formed up to let us pass through. On enter
ing tho place itself we were, however, met by
a man robcd in white, who bowed humbly,
but said nothing, which, as It afterward up
peared that he was deaf mute, was not very
wonderful. aa &s
Running at right angles to the main cave,
Mt distance Of some twenty feet from tho
entrance, was a smaller cave or wide gallery
that was pierced into the rock both to the right
and TO the left Of themain cave. AT the mouth
OF this gallery to our left stood two guards, and
from this circumstance / argued that 1t was
the entrance to the apartments of She herself.
The entrance to the right gallery was UNI
guarded, and down this the mute indicated
we were to proceed. A few yards down this
gallery, which was lighted with lamps, wo
camo to tho entrance TO chamber with
curtain made Of some grass material, not UNI
like Zanzibar mat in appearance, hung over
the doorway. This the mute drew back with
another profound obeisance and led the way
into good sized apartment, lewn, Of course,
out OF thesolid rock, but to my great delight,
lighted by means Of shaft pierced in tho
face Of the prociplce In this room was a
stone bedstead, pots full Of water for wash.
ing, and beautifully tanned leopard skins to
serve as blankets.
Hero we left Leo, who was still sleeping
heavily, and with him stopped Ustane. 1
noticed that the mute gave her sharp look,
as much as 20 shy: "Who are you, and by
whose orders do you come herei" Then he
conducted us TO another similar room, which
job took, and then 10 two more, that were
respectively occupied by Billal and myself,